Church Discipline Gone Wrong: The Village Church Scandal

While Jordan’s sin is egregious, he has begun to walk in repentance and willingly submitted to the direction of his pastors. This means Jordan is not in formal church discipline (Mt 18:15). Instead, moving forward, Jordan will remain in a season of intentional pastoral care, where his role will be to remain faithful to actions in keeping with repentance (Acts 26:20), pursuing holiness and purity, and continuing to flee from sin.

–Statement to church members from Campus Pastor Steve Hardin & The Village Church Elders (emphasis mine)

We have been perplexed by your decision to file for an annulment of your marriage without first abiding by your covenant obligations to submit to the care and direction of your elders. As I mentioned in my first letter, this decision violates your covenant with us – and places you under discipline. Per section 10.5 of The Village Church bylaws, you are prohibited from voluntarily resigning membership while subject to the formal disciplinary process. We cannot, therefore, accept your resignation.

-Offical Letter to Karen Hinkley from Pastor Matt Younger (and the Dallas Northway campus elders of The Village Church)

Church Discipline Gone Wrong:

The Village Church Scandal

As promised in yesterday’s post on the Duggar situation, today I am covering another story that deals with pedophilia and the evangelical church. The focus of this post will not be on the pedophilia per se but on how The Village Church treated the (then) wife of the admitted pedophile when she decided to obtain a marriage annulment. It is illustrative of poor pastoral care and poor divorce theology at work in the evangelical world.

As the quote from Karen states above, the facts of this situation really are not in dispute as it comes to this former missionary couple (for further reading click here). Her former husband, Jordan Root, admitted the sexual appetite of a pedophile and gratifying that appetite by viewing child porn. In fact, their sending missionary organization, SIM, took this so seriously that they expelled Jordan Root from its membership.

How does The Village Church figure into the story?

Karen and Jordan Root’s home and supporting church was The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. The family came back from the mission field amid this story breaking about Jordan’s pedophilia. They were both members of this church.

For those who do not know, The Village Church is the flagship megachurch of the Acts 29 church planting network. It boasts 11,000 members with multiple campuses in Texas. Pastor Matt Chandler is a lead pastor at The Village Church and the pastoral personality that arguably helped this church explode in membership. He is a very gifted teacher, and I have appreciated learning from his teachings–i.e. online and in print–in the past.

Besides The Village Church, Chandler has some major platforms in evangelical Christianity worldwide including both on The Gospel Coalition –a major theological teaching platform–and as the President of the Acts 29 church planting network, which boasts having over 500 churches worldwide. That said, I did not see him playing much of a hands-on role in this debacle. However, his absence in stopping this pastoral care train-wreck at his church is troubling to me.

My point in explaining these connections is to highlight how poor theology and destructive pastoral care in this situation has major implications and ramifications for the worldwide community. This is not just about Karen Hinkley. It is about how evangelical leaders and the evangelical Christian community treat Christian spouses who are faced with such serious sexual sin in their partners. In other words,

This is a big deal!

I am now going to call out two major issues and then share a few final thoughts.

A) Theological Corrective Teaching:

Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 provide an exception for faithful spouses to obtain a divorce. The particular word for the exception is the broad Greek term “porneia.” Pedophilia would certainly qualify as sexual sin under this term. Applying this understanding to Karen’s situation, she had the option–without shame–to seek a divorce from Jordan (or a marriage annulment as in this case) based on Jesus’ own words. Permission (i.e. to end the marriage) is permission. Since she has this permission from God, she does not need human approval. That includes approval from pastors of a church she has already left (before being put under discipline, I would add).

Also, remember that Karen is dealing with years of this sexually sinful behavior. She was unaware until recently of his pedophilia sin, which also indicates years of lies and deception. Like a faithful spouse discovering their spouse led a double life as an adulterer/adulteress, the sin issues here are very deep and go beyond “just” one act. Her decision to seek marriage annulment does not strike this pastor as impulsive but wise when considered in light of such facts.

B) Pastoral Care Epic Fail:

Where things became especially hairy is when church leadership tried to control Karen in rejecting her membership resignation and decision to end her marriage through annulment (see quotes at top of post and the story here). Adding to the horror of this pastoral epic fail:

The Village Church pastors frame this incredibly controlling and spiritually abusive approach as “care” for Karen!

To be clear:

This is not care. This is control.

I recognize such a move from my own experience. My ex-father-in-law, a member of an Acts 29 church at the time, used this sort of approach to abuse me spiritually. Furthermore, officials in my former denomination stood behind a “care” plan for me that was anything except “care.” Like Karen, these officials dismissed my objections over the necessity of said “care” plan. Unlike Karen, I was still a member of that denomination at the time the “care” plan went down.

I am sure that I am not the only faithful spouse who has seen this religious veneer of “care” put into action as a cover for spiritually abusive manipulation.

This is a classic example of pastors not respecting the agency and dignity of another adult.Karen is an adult. This approach is completely inappropriate and is insensitive to put it mildly. Pastoral Care 101 ought to have taught these pastors not to shove “care” down the throat of someone who has told them they are neither their pastor nor do they want said “care.” And as if this is not bad enough, these pastors have this situation so backwards that they put the wronged spouse–Karen–under formal church discipline while explicitly saying her pedophile husband is not! Their agenda of controlling her and the situation seems to trump actually caring for Karen by respecting their own pastoral care limitations in this setting and letting her go. Disgusting.

My Final Thoughts:

1) The Village Church pastors spiritually abused Karen.Karen did not sin by choosing an annulment in light of her former husband’s years of sexual immorality in the form of pedophilia (e.g. Mt 5:32 and Mt 19:9). She respectfully informed the church of her decision and withdrawal of membership before she was in violation of the covenant (i.e. no longer a member in good standing).

To attempt to put her under church discipline is to say she is in serious sin and to abuse the position of elder/pastor in Christ’s Church. It is to attempt to exert authority over someone who has already left one’s care. This disturbs me as I am aware that such heavy-handed measures were not limited to this Acts 29 church alone. The evangelical community would do well to rebuke–as I am doing here–such behavior in order not to suggest by silence that such spiritual abuse is acceptable. It is not!

2) The fate of Karen and Jordan’s marriage was not for the elders or pastors of The Village Church to decide. I become nervous whenever I hear or read of evangelical pastors insisting they are consulted about the marriage’s fate even when the faithful spouse has clear evidence of sexual immorality qualifying them for choosing a Biblical divorce. To be clear: It is good to seek sound and wise counsel. I encourage engaging one’s pastor and spiritual community for support and counsel at the critical juncture of deciding what to do with one’s marriage following sexual sin in one’s spouse. However, often evangelical pastors’ insistence on consultation crosses the line of care and counsel to control in my opinion. This smacks of distrust and an usurpation of the Holy Spirit role in the faithful spouse’s life. And it leaves me with this burning question:

Who do such pastors think they are that they know better than God who gave this faithful spouse (e.g. Karen) permission to end the marriage?!

3) This is not simply male patriarchy gone wild in evangelical-land. It is far more serious than that. This is a demonic, religious spirit of control at work in the Church. Case and point, I experienced it at work in the demise of my first marriage plus its aftermath, and I am a male minister. This problem is not just regulated to one gender over another. Satan seeks to destroy all God’s people–i.e. both male and female. It stems from a flawed theology of divorce that refuses to respect the permission granted to faithful spouses to end their marriage without shame. And it stems from a flawed understanding of pastoral care. I am horrified reading this story as a professional, board certified chaplain watching how these pastors attempted to force their “care” upon Karen even being willing to abuse her spiritually to do so. This ought to be completely unacceptable behavior in God’s Church and among God’s chosen Church leaders.

Finally, I am righteously ticked!

I am angry that my fellow evangelical ministers have chosen to abuse a dear sister in the Lord. I am angry that my Savior’s Name is being dragged through the muck by such sinful behavior. I am angry that pedophilia and Jordan’s access to vulnerable minors is not taken more seriously by church leaders (as indicated by Karen’s letter, see here).

And I am tired of seeing these common spiritual abuse patterns continue.

God tells us in Hebrews that He will shake this earth before He comes so that what is not of Him will fall away (Hebrews 12:26-29). And this judgment starts with His Church (I Peter 4:17).

12 thoughts on “Church Discipline Gone Wrong: The Village Church Scandal”

I applaud Karen Hinkley s dignified, intelligent, scripture based statement. I applaud her strength and resolve as well. Unfortunately, I can see how to the less informed and enlightened, her statement will be misconstrued as insinuating at the very least, and accusatory at the very worst. My prayers go out to her and the members going through this, as well as any potential victims.

I’m not Christian, so I have to look at this whole situation and shake my head. Once again, an organization is trying to make itself look good, never mind the consequences!

I agree with Karen’s position that her marriage was founded on a fraud because Jordan had not disclosed his past history and his sexual orientation to his wife.

Sure, he may have thought he was healed, and he apparently wasn’t struggling with it for the early part of their marriage, but it was vital background information that should have been disclosed nevertheless.

I can’t imagine how angry she was, especially with the way she’s been treated by TVC.

I gather TVC has said they’ll “move forward” in releasing her from membership. Wow. As someone who’s very pro First Amendment, her freedom of association is something I cherish, and that means the freedom to associate—or not—with any given church as well.

And I agree that it was a fraudulent marriage to being with…not that my opinion matters that much. The state of Texas agreed and even Jordan signed off on it from what I’ve read elsewhere.

Some criticize bloggers like myself for exposing this situation calling it spiritually abusive and controlling, your comment makes the point that such behavior reflects badly on all of us left unaddressed. Please know that I am not the only Christian who has serious problems with how TVC handled this.

I have no personal prejudice against anyone who’s sincerely examined what they believe and found out where they fit faith-wise—so long as they’re not hurting other people. But given my own 11 years in Scientology (I’ve been out 25 years), I’m very aware that what looks sane from inside the organization often looks very different from the outside.

I would encourage you to listen to Matt Chandler’s May 31, 2015 sermon. He admits sin in the Village Church’s handling of church discipline and is taking steps to correct it. I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

The most disturbing thing about this whole case to me is the underlying evil of so-called covenant Church membership. The very idea is downright creepy, and not Biblical. Where in the Bible was anyone required to sign a membership form to be part of the body of Christ? On their own web page explaining covenant membership, the Village Church says it is not “a means of control.” But in his first apology of sorts during a Village Church sermon in May 2015, Chandler said counseling had turned into “control.” Unfortunately this case and others like it, Mars Hill for example, are not misapplications of otherwise good principles, or simple mistakes to be apologized for. Chandler and others should apologize for covenant membership, which is an affront to our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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